Tour de Romandie (st. 1)
Movistar Team struggles to some of the Tour de Romandie's GC favourites in a cold, demanding race in Switzerland
Geraint Thomas (SKY) is the first leader of the 69th Tour de Romandie after the first team time trial in the WorldTour this season, a 19km route between La Vallée de Joux and the Juraparc with cold temperatures and a demanding finish for all teams, two kilometers with slopes of 3-4% that challenged the Movistar Team's abilities to keep their traditional cohesion.
Used to keep their group together until the final section, the riders directed by Arrieta and Laguía reached the final ramp with all their eight units, though with a considerable time loss (37") against the two leading teams -SKY itself and the Australian Orica-GreenEdge outfit- they couldn't unfortunately make up with their strong climbers. The Blues finished in 10th spot, 40" behind the leaders and about twenty seconds after some of the other GC contenders.
A chance for the roster led by Nairo Quintana to bounce back on Swiss soil will come already on Wednesday, with the finish in Saint-Imier (168km) after four rated climbs including La Vue des Alpes (Cat-2) in the finale.